latable article of food. Those whose chief experience of the olive is
the large, coarse, and not agreeable Spanish variety, used only as an
appetizer, know little of the value of the best varieties as food,
nutritious as meat, and always delicious. Good bread and a dish of
pickled olives make an excellent meal. The sort known as the Mission
olive, planted by the Franciscans a century ago, is generally grown now,
and the best fruit is from the older trees. The most successful attempts
in cultivating the olive and putting it on the market have been made by
Mr. F. A. Kimball, of National City, and Mr. Ellwood Cooper, of Santa
Barbara. The experiments have gone far enough to show that the industry
is very remunerative. The best olive oil I have ever tasted anywhere is
that produced from the Cooper and the Kimball orchards; but not enough
is produced to supply the local demand. Mr. Cooper has written a careful
treatise on olive culture, which will be of great service to all
growers. The art of pickling is not yet mastered, and perhaps some other
variety will be preferred to the old Mission for the table. A mature
olive grove in good bearing is a fortune. I feel sure that within
twenty-five years this will be one of the most profitable industries of
California, and that the demand for pure oil and edible fruit in the
United States will drive out the adulterated and inferior present
commercial products. But California can easily ruin its reputation by
adopting the European systems of adulteration.

[Illustration: IN A FIELD OF GOLDEN PUMPKINS.]

We drove one day from Arcadia Station through the region occupied by
the Baldwin plantations, an area of over fifty thousand acres--a happy
illustration of what industry and capital can do in the way of variety
of productions, especially in what are called the San Anita vineyards
and orchards, extending southward from the foot-hills. About the home
place and in many sections where the irrigating streams flow one might
fancy he was in the tropics, so abundant and brilliant are the flowers
and exotic plants. There are splendid orchards of oranges, almonds,
English walnuts, lemons, peaches, apricots, figs, apples, and olives,
with grain and corn--in short, everything that grows in garden or field.
The ranch is famous for its brandies and wines as well as fruits. We
lunched at the East San Gabriel Hotel, a charming place with a peaceful
view from the wide veranda of live-oaks, orchards, vi